The invention of scientific and technological breakthroughs that were virtually unthinkable just decades ago, have changed radically the way society interacts with the day to day events.

What these changes mean for the family, society and state are grave and historical. They are grave in the sense that life without oxygen is impossible and society without families is unimaginable. Most importantly, societies without working and fruitful families are doomed to fail.

My concern on this whole question of modernity and its implications on the African political order are critical for the survival of the upcoming generation of Africans.

 Modernity has affected African man and his society in many ways. It has transformed his environment. The African landscape has been altered primarily in those areas where European colonizers found wealth under ground and above ground. Hence the roads of most African countries flow from the mining centers or grand agricultural zones   (such as timber producing areas) to the urban capitals where these natural resources were collected for onward shipment to industrial capitals in Europe and beyond. Not only are African mines seized and ran from abroad, but African physical landscape suffered ecological damages which are yet to be addressed even in these days of lamentation about harm to the environment. Former Vice President Al Gore ’s mantra is a useful declaration of guilty but it has a long way to go to add to the solutions for Africa and the developing countries. In addition to these ecological problems due to colonialism and neo-colonialism in Africa , there are also challenges with respect to the cultural landscape of the Africans. Not only have they been trapped in a cultural mortgage to the Western intellectual tradition, but they are for a long time to come destined to suffer the Kunta Kinte destiny. What does this mean? It means that the African loss of control over his mental world poses a greater challenge to his or her mental health than Africa ’s loss of her natural resources. Here ecological loss is compounded by cultural foreclosures of one’s historical and intellectual developments. What is being argued here is that Africa ’s future is going to depend heavily on Africa ’s ability to regain control of its natural and cultural resources. Winning national independence, as was the case during colonial rule was one step forward; however, in order for the whole process of liberation to be complete, Africans must achieve cultural control over their mental estate. This is a tall order and many of the decolonized states are light years away from their destinations.

Any discussion of modernity and the African family that avoids these challenges is on the wrong track to liberation. Because the African family is affected by the inherited colonial situation and because the political conditions in their societies leave much to be desired, any serious discussion of the family and politics must go the central themes of political development. They are the question of identity, the question of political stability and the question of economic development. With respect of the identity question, modernity poses the following questions: Who are you? What is the nature of your state? What is your per capita? Where do you stand with respect to the different indexes used to site you on the global map? And is there any hope of graduating singly and collectively from the lower rungs of poverty in the world system?

Answering these questions in the African context, the following points deserve immediate attention. With respect to identity most Africans are likely to say that they have multiple identities and social and geographic locations determine who you are. If you are an African from Nigeria and you are walking down the streets of Washington D.C. or interacting with Americans and others at a Washington hotel, chances are people will call you an African until they talk to you and learn about your national origins. Hence to this distant observer you are a Nigerian. Once another Nigerian enters the picture, and the observer, who is knowledgeable about Nigeria , enquires about the second Nigerians, chances are he will discover with or without assistance from the two Nigerians that one is Ibo and the other is either a Hausa or Yoruba or something else. The evidence of difference will come out of any discussion of family names, region and language.

     This realization of the complexities of the African and Nigerian identity becomes more evident once the two Nigerians land in their country. Their Nigerian identity is still there, but because of location the two Nigerian friends at home soon go to their respective ethnic or cultural/linguistic domains. There in Nigeria , these citizens who have gained command of vast amount of modern knowledge would soon realize that modernity and traditionalism are two sides of the same coin that defines our humanity. This is to say, both Nigerian enter their family home to complete the circle of identity. This exercise I gave above points to the concentric circles within the wider circle of our common humanity. What modernity has done is to put the gadgets and the creature comfort of science and technology at our disposal while the innovations of social science and the humanities provide us with the useful conceptual and terminological instruments to find our way in the heavily traffic of human life. To return to the African context once again, one can now argue that the meaning of life through such terms as African, Nigerian, and Ibo and otherwise make the role and place of the family crucial.

In light of this reasoning, one can argue here that the modern African family stands to lose a great deal if their societies are deprived of the collective human inheritance of science and technology on the one hand and cultural renaissance on the other. The family is the key to self-preservation and economic development. By modernizing their societies African families will be able to address the challenges in the shifting sands of identity formation and in the domain of economic development. It is only the family that can lay the foundations for the New Africa. It is the source of life; it is the first school because your  mother’s womb is not only the first life-supporting system known to man but it is also the cultural laboratory where the human child learns to negotiate between the world of biology and the world of cultural assimilation into the human world. It is a delicate place to live and those children who make it out of the womb serve as important agents of change in society. Similarly, upon their arrival in the human world, these children need to be protected from the evils of the ecological and cultural landscapes. Diseases and other hazards from the environment can put an end to their lives. Cultural and political dangers to human living could add insult to injury. Not only can you be the victim of an ecological disaster as is the case in many African countries, but you can be a prisoner of cultural violations of the worst kind. How? You can be born into a refugee camp where Aids, malaria and a number of others plagues make life agonizing. Under these circumstances the modern African finds himself in a fix.

      Thus, in examining the family and the question of modernity, one sees issues such as identity, economic wellbeing and political security are inextricably linked to political order. This is why I argue that the African family has to address the question of political stability in their countries. How can this be done and in what manner?    

 The first political challenge is the development of a system of government that clearly demarcates the lines of separation between the society and the state on the one hand, and the state and family on the other. In most of traditional Africa , the state was weak because under modern definition of the term such powers lacked punitive and extractive capabilities. Political anthropologists and historians of African traditional systems have identified several forms of government in pre-colonial Africa . There were empires and big states such as ancient Egypt , Mero , Ethiopia , Ghana , Mali and Songhai ; there were a cephalous states such as the Ibo and the Jola village democracies; and there were other political formations such as the smaller states found in many African countries before colonial rule. In order for the African family to make a difference in this new world, it must not only raise children properly but it must also work hard to protect them both at the ecological/political and cultural levels. These are formidable challenges and the introduction of democratic forms of government could add a great deal to the realization of this dream.       

Life without political order is uncertain; and economics without security is futile. These two choices are matters of grave concerns to anyone who is interested in the future of the African family and the destiny of Africa . Democracy is now regaining its claim over the African mind. The number of democratically elected governments has increased over the last decade. There are still formidable obstacles. However, in order for the African family to maintain control of its wealth and future, it must embrace wholeheartedly democracy. This is to say, the modern African family should not only vote once every four or five years. Its members should be involved in a variety of ways within the society. They should be present within the councils of the civil society by serving in many different roles in advancement of free debate and social innovations in the reconstruction of their societies. By doing so, families empower themselves and at the same open doors of opportunities for their children and others in their communities. In addition to these civil responsibilities there are other challenges that must be faced head on. Each family should link the search for democratic rule with the welfare of the family and the future of their children. Not only are they willing to fight for democracy, but they must connect the dots linking their welfare and their activism. Without activism politics falls into the hands of the politicos who strive hard to capture the state and empower themselves by increasing their shares in the distribution of public goods. To preempt such practices in the society, the modern African family should put pressure on their elected candidates through the introduction of legislations that count and not by playing political judo with hunger. It is only through such acts of self-assertion and self-articulation and aggregation of one’s family interest that the New Africa could come about.

 Corruption is one of the most heinous crimes that grow out of the African unwillingness to challenge their political rulers. Intimidated by military might and dragooned into compliance through the faithful acceptance of bribery and corruption in most of African states, the African family finds itself trapped in a political quandary. They live to exist under political repression and they work to be cheated by both the political class and their merchants or so-called contractors. Neither of these social classes pays their debts to society; rather, it is the members of these families who suffer the pangs of bad economy and political instability.

The African family therefore faces a serious set of challenges that beg for attention. Modernity is a freight train that is unstoppable and the African can belong to the twenty-first century only by bordering it and meeting the responsibilities associated with passenger ship. Another challenge is for modern African families to invest heavily in civil society through their close association with non-governmental organizations. Africans are known to be notoriously religious, we may be able to convince ourselves in Africa that through our respective religions and families we may be able to create a new social and political order that budgets our emotion in such a way that life is beautiful, rewarding and reassuring because we have learned to make politics not the field where a zero-sum game is played out by politicos who care for themselves and less for us. This phenomenon, which Chinua Achebe captured in his character Chief Ndanga in his Man of the People, should be permanently exiled from the African political kingdom if justice is to prevail and men and women in Africa are to be free. The liberation of Africa rests in the labors of the parents and the fertilization of the seeds of the family through love and hard work. c

Robot  Villager

# 1 ...Read the full article. Posted by Robot| 08.06.2007 07:38

tanibaba  Villager

# 2 This is an excellent and well researched piece. I congratulate you and encourage you to write more. It needs not be government bashing all the time. We need introspection, all of us and that is exactly what you have done. In particular i agree completely with you when you wrote: Thus, in examining the family and the question of modernity, one sees issues such as identity, economic wellbeing and political security are inextricably linked to political order. This is why I argue that the African family has to address the question of political stability in their countries. How can this be done and in what manner? We also must settle the problem of identity and build our economies around our identity and cultures. That way we will provide employment to our teeming population instead of importing and paying the salaries of those in the West. The worst injustice we can do to ourselves, our race and our unborn children is to want to be like oyinbos. God has given us culture, family, conscience, religion, love and passion which are in high demand in the west now. Once again i want to thank you. I did something similar, though not detailed under my culture series- culture, ignorance and poverty etc etc. taslim Posted by tanibaba| 08.06.2007 14:11